Pennsylvania Makes Public 243 Cases of Fracking Contaminated Water 29AUG14

FRACKING is polluting the ground water in Pennsylvania and around the nation, here are 243 cases proving this fact. Gov corbett r tb PA and the repiglican / tea-bagger controlled commonwealth government in Harrisburg have been corrupted by the gas and oil industries, failing to investigate and even covering up water contamination and health problems to protect these industries. There is help from scientific and environmental organizations for communities fighting to protect their residents and water supplies and the residents of Pennsylvania can also fight back by voting for candidates who will best protect their health and environment this November. From +Daily Kos .....

FRI AUG 29, 2014 AT 02:12 PM EDT

Pennsylvania Makes Public 243 Cases of Fracking Contaminated Water

byFishOutofWaterFollow

 
 

Sherry Vargson, of Granville Summit, PA, lighting her fracking-contaminated tap water.

The state of Pennsylvania has released redacted details of 243 cases of water contamination caused by fracking and related activities by the natural gas industry. Claims made by the fracking industry that they have not contaminated water are utter rubbish. These 243 cases which took place in Pennsylvania between 2008 and 2014 involve a wide range of contamination problems including the contamination of multiple water supply wells by one fracking operation.  State officials did not indicate how many more cases of contamination may have occurred since 2008 that are not included in this list.

The 243 cases, from 2008 to 2014, include some where a single drilling operation impacted multiple water wells. The problems listed in the documents include methane gas contamination, spills of wastewater and other pollutants, and wells that went dry or were otherwise undrinkable. Some of the problems were temporary, but the names of landowners were redacted, so it wasn't clear if the problems were resolved to their satisfaction. Other complaints are still being investigated

Here is an example case I went to semi-randomly.

The 243 cases can be found here.

It is clear that fracking has been causing wide ranging water problems but the industry has pressed hard to keep them from being made public. Pennsylvania's inspector general has admitted the problems with fracking have overwhelmed state regulators.

 
The release of contamination information also comes about a month after a report from the state’s Inspector General that found that the rapid growth of the state’s gas industry “caught the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) unprepared to effectively administer laws and regulations to protect drinking water and unable to efficiently respond to citizen complaints.”

They repeatedly lied to us in North Carolina in public meetings which I attended that there were no documented cases of fracking contamination of water supplies.  North Carolina Republicans were given dog and poly show tours of Pennsylvania gas wells. They came back with glowing reports selling fracking to North Carolinians.

State Sen. Bob Rucho returned from a taxpayer-funded trip to Pennsylvania's shale gas drilling region talking about green pastures and cows - not drinking water contamination or health concerns.

"I was impressed with the best industry practices they've established," he said, dismissing complaints about shale gas extraction as erroneous or exaggerated. "What we saw was green grass and cows grazing."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/...

The fracking industry was lying to North Carolina's state representatives and citizens.
Those lies have now been exposed.

A permanent moratorium on expanding fracking to new areas needs to be declared now to stop more water from being contaminated and to remedy deficiencies in regulation that are alllowing water to be contaminated in violation of federal water quality laws.

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO FISHOUTOFWATER ON FRI AUG 29, 2014 AT 02:12 PM EDT.

ALSO REPUBLISHED BY NORTH CAROLINA BLUE AND DK GREENROOTS.

Water Supply Determination Letters

The following list identifies cases where DEP determined that a private water supply was impacted by oil and 

gas activities. The oil and gas activities referenced in the list below include operations associated with both 

conventional and unconventional drilling activities that either resulted in a water diminution event or an 

increase in constituents above background conditions. This list is intended to identify historic water supply 

impacts and does not necessarily represent ongoing impacts. Many of the water supply complaints listed 

below have either returned to background conditions, have been mitigated through the installation of water 

treatment controls or have been addressed through the replacement of the original water supply. This list is 

dynamic in nature and will be updated to reflect new water supply impacts as they are reported to DEP and a 

determination is made; however, the list will retain cases of water supply impacts even after the impact has 

been resolved.

A redacted copy of the water supply determination letter/order can be viewed by clicking on the “Complaint 

#” or “ORDER” cell in the table. Each row on the list represents a single water supply determination. A single 

water supply determination may be represented by multiple “Complaint #s” (i.e., when more than one 

Complaint # is included in the same row) and, conversely, separate water supplies may be identified using 

the same “Complaint #” (i.e., when multiple rows list the same Complaint #). The list also identifies the 

municipality and county where each water supply is located along with the date of the water supply 

determination letter or the date the order was issued.